Something Special
by Falcon Strife
Summary: -Hiatus- Brief scenes between Ren and Manta.
1. Animals

**Animals**

Perched on a branch in a lush tree, Ren stared down at a single bench and watched intently. This human had been sitting there for a long time, staring at the sky and silent as though in thought. It didn't make sense. Humans were evil, thoughtless creatures, but this one didn't seem to fit. Even though he was deformed and forced to fight harder to get through life, he seemed so gentle and accepting.

He tensed when the human finally moved, aiming to throw the wrapper of his dinner in a nearby wastebasket; but after a moment, he reconsidered and slid off the bench with a look of resignation and walked over to the waste basket and threw out the wrapper from his meal.

A smirk crossed Ren's face, finally making sense of what he saw. Most humans were poisonous creatures that didn't belong in any chain of life. They killed for sport and were too lazy to be bothered with looking after their planet. But this one was much different. This one may have considered fighting, but he was also smart enough to know what he could and couldn't accomplish.

Ren shook his head with a smug grin. Of course. This human was one of the few who belonged in the chain of life. He was simply prey. Again Ren shook his head, no longer troubled by the human's existence, and then looked sharply towards the city, deciding he would find the Asakura heir tomorrow and claim his territory.


	2. Making Acquaintance

**Making Acquaintance**

Manta frowned while folding his clothes carefully. The guest room that he had been assigned was much larger than any bedroom he had encountered in his lifetime. A shiver ran down his spine when he considered that he would be sleeping in it alone. Only hours earlier the master of the house had been trying to kill his friends, and the thought of all the zombies that waited in some dungeon under the house made him even more uneasy.

"Asakura is a moron. Ryu follows him. Horo is just stupid."

Manta shrieked at the sudden voice and spun around, and then fell silent when he spotted Ren standing in the doorway. "Ren…"

"You, on the other hand, are a panicky little mouse." Ren said with a frown. "So why are you here?"

"I…" Manta stammered.

"Quit acting like a broken record," Ren said sharply.

Manta swallowed hard while staring up at the shaman. "I wanted to help you."

Ren smirked. "Help me? I handle myself just fine. I don't need help, especially not from a powerless human who's afraid of his own shadow."

"Huh?" Manta glanced away with an embarrassed blush. "I'm not afraid of my shadow," he muttered. "And anyway, you're a friend. I wanna do all I can for you."

Ren watched Manta silently, trying to understand why the small human would care about him, until finally he decided it was unimportant. "When I was coming home," he began, "I met a woman on the train. She did the strangest thing. She offered me a treat and encouraged me." He shook his head. "I can understand it from you fools, but she was a complete stranger and couldn't even see Bason."

Manta tilted his head to the side. "Why are you telling me this?"

Ren frowned while looking away from Manta, and thought for several minutes. "All these years I saw humans as sightless, uncaring vermin. Another of Father's teachings. You and that woman are much different though."

Manta watched curiously as Ren walked over to him, and then looked curiously at Ren's outstretched hand.

"It's good to meet you, Oyamada Manta."

Slowly Manta smiled, and then reached out and shook Ren's hand. "It's good to meet you too, Tao Ren," he replied.


	3. Friendship

Friendship

Manta frowned while looking at his watch. The train should have arrived ten minutes ago, yet he was still standing on the platform, alone and darkness falling quickly. _"What's taking so long?"_ he thought with a frown, and then frowned when he heard a ruckus at the other end of the platform. He looked towards the sounds, and then gasped nervously when he spotted a rowdy looking bunch of teenagers coming towards him, and then looked away quickly, telling himself to pretend he didn't notice them as he slowly turned and began to pace.

The act apparently didn't work, because before the third circle was completed he heard the teenagers shouting at him for attention. Nervously he looked up to them, and then smiled. "Uh… Good evening," he said. "Can I help you?"

"What're you doin' out this late, kid?" one whom Manta took to be the leader asked. He wasn't quite as muscular as his friends, but Manta decided that this would be the one to catch him if he tried to run.

"Uh… I'm going home, actually," Manta replied, forcing himself to remain calm.

"Oh, yeah?" the leader asked with a smirk, and then held out a hand. "So're we. But we're short on cash for the train. Spare some?"

Manta swallowed hard while reaching into his pockets, and then smiled weakly. "S-Sorry. I don't have any. I have a pass, so I don't carry cash." He began to pull his hands from his pockets, and then cursed silently when he accidentally pulled his wallet out and dropped it on the platform.

"Hey, you sure?" the leader asked while quickly scooping up the wallet. He checked for cash, and then frowned when he noticed Manta's student card. "Aren't you young for Shinra Academy?" he asked suspiciously while eyes the boy, and then looked irritably at what must have been his right-hand man, who was tapping his shoulder urgently. "What is it, Yoku?"

"Kai, ain't that the kid who's been hangin' with Bokuto no Ryu?" Yoku whispered.

Every tiny hair on the back of Manta's neck stiffened as fear began to swell. Ryu may have been the toughest gangster in the area, but he also had enemies. "Baku Dragon?" he laughed nervously. "What on Earth is a Baku Dragon?"

Kai looked icily at Manta. "That's right. Mr. High-and-Mighty's been hangin' with higher crowds these days, hasn't he? Rich families, Shinra punks. Even heard he and Oyamada had a cozy little getaway to Izumo."

"N-No! I don't know any Ryu!" Manta cried while backing up.

"Then why're you so scared, kid?" Yoku asked with a smirk.

"Get him!" Kai shouted to his friends.

Manta's eyes widened as the massive teenagers charged at him, and then shrieked as he turned and ran from them. "Why couldn't the damn train come on time?" he demanded of nobody, and then made a painful sound after he was grabbed by the back of the shirt and choked.

"You take off fast for a runt," Kai laughed while lifting Manta into the air, and then threw him against the terminal wall. "Too bad for you that only your take-off is good."

Manta grunted painfully as he hit the wall, and then moaned as he slid to the ground. He turned his head slowly and saw the teens surrounding him, and then whimpered while closing his eyes and waiting for the real pain to start.

"Filthy vermin."

Kai and his friends looked back hearing the strangely accented voice, only to find a teenager barely over five feet tall glaring at them. Kai studied the short teen curiously for a moment, and then laughed when he noticed boy's tall, spiked hairdo. "Hah! What do we have here? Sharkboy?"

Manta looked up slowly, and then his eyes widened when he identified the teen as one of his own friends. "Ren…"

Ren's eye twitched at the name Kai had called him, and then folded his arms over his chest irritably. "How pathetic can the human race get?" he demanded. "Picking on a kid less than twenty percent your size?"

"You got something to say?" Yoku demanded angrily, and then looked confusedly to Kai when he lifted an arm in front of him.

Kai smirked as he walked towards Ren, and then studied him a second time and began to laugh. "Didn't know a girl could wear short shorts and still look for fights." He then gave Ren a sly look. "I can think of better ways to spend our energy, though."

Ren neither flinched nor seemed offended. He simply continued to stare at Kai, his eyes knitted together in a threatening manner. "Funny; I can't think of anything I'd rather do than put you in your place."

Manta slowly raised to his feet and watched Ren with bewildered eyes while grasping the back of his neck firmly, attempting to sooth the throbbing that was now bothering him.

"Hmph," Kai replied with a smirk, "hardly a fair fight, but big deal."

"You're right," Ren replied monotonously. "Add some of your friends and maybe you'll last five seconds."

Kai's face reddened with anger as his friends gasped, and then with a growl he ran towards the teen, ready to punch him. "Little bast—"

None of the teens knew what happened. The best they knew was that there was a very large, very sharp blade poking the center of Kai's throat.

"Did you also know Ryu associates with Tao Ren?" Ren asked icily. "Or do you even know who that is?" He smirked when Kai uttered a 'no'. "The son of the Tao family; China's most deadly. We have many techniques, but I fancy dismemberment."

Kai's friends whimpered before Yoku shouted, "This kid's nuts!" With that, the teens deserted Kai in seconds.

"They're smart," Ren said smugly, and then looked to Kai dangerously. "How smart are you?" When he only received incoherent utterances of fear, he smirked and removed the tip of his quan-dao from the older teen's throat. "This is my territory now. Do yourself a favor and find some other place to terrorize."

"Y-Yessir!" Kai cried while breaking into an instant run. He didn't know how Ren had been so quick, but he didn't want to find out.

Manta stared with wide eyes at Ren as the terminal fell silent again, and then smiled. "Thank…"

"You shouldn't be out here alone this late," Ren snapped while looking at Manta. "Never mind that you get yourself into trouble all the time; you can't even protect yourself from that kind of filth."

"R-Ren," Manta said nervously, startled by the shaman's hostility, and then looked down quietly. "You guys are leaving tomorrow. Since nobody knows when you'll come back, I wanted to spend time with Yoh-kun."

"Do you think I care about that?" Ren snapped irritably. "One of these days you're going to wake up dead."

Manta swallowed nervously while looking at the ground, feeling guilty even though he was certain he shouldn't. Moments passed silently before the train whistle was heard, and then he looked up and found Ren watching him sternly.

"I'll take you home," Ren said, his tone no longer harsh but still lacking emotion.

Manta nodded and waited quietly for the train to pull up to the platform. He let Ren guide him on board, and then sat down and looked out the window uncomfortably. He had thought he and Ren were becoming good friends, but now he wasn't as sure and felt sad about it.

Ren sat across from Manta and remained as quiet as the blonde as the train began to move again. For several minutes neither said anything, but Ren slowly became more interested in conversation when he noticed Manta was watching the stars. "They won't offer as much guidance if you're on this infernal contraption," he said, his tone holding his own kind of gentleness in it. "It blinds and deafens us."

Manta looked to Ren unsurely. "I suppose…"

Ren continued to watch Manta, slowly smirking. "Don't get pathetic on me. I won't enjoy your company any more."

Manta frowned confusedly. "Huh?"

Ren continued to smirk while leaning back more comfortably in his seat. "When I get back it'd be nice to tell somebody other than Jun how I became Shaman King. At least you'll appreciate the tale."

It took a moment, but a small smile crossed Manta's face as he began to feel more comfortable. "Oh…" He and Ren hadn't spent a lot of time together, but he had slowly been catching onto the way Ren treated people. The more arrogant he was, the more he accepted that person. What Ren had just said made Manta feel like less of a nuisance. "Ren… You'll be careful, right?"

Ren quirked an eyebrow. "Are you kidding? I'm Tao Ren. I don't need to be careful." He smirked. "Of course, I may take it into consideration if I think you're making ridiculous wishes to the stars."

Manta blushed embarrassedly, and then looked away. "What do I look like, a little girl?" he demanded heatedly.

"Well, you're certainly more intelligent than most girls I've met, but you're certainly little," Ren replied smugly. "Maybe you aren't drinking enough milk."

""So now you're my dietician?" Manta asked while quirking an eyebrow with amusement.

"At least you would be tall and strong like me," Ren replied.

"It's not like I can help it," Manta pouted, though Ren could tell he was also happy to be having a comfortable argument.

Bason smiled faintly from a distance as Ren laughed, glad to see his young master had found a friend he was comfortable with.


End file.
